9. "Owen 3:16 Says I Just Broke Your Neck" - August 3, 1997
By Summerslam 1997, Owen Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin were embroiled in a feud that was delivering both in promos and in the ring. The blowoff was a "Kiss My Ass" match at Summerslam, wherein if Austin lost, he'd have to kiss Hart's rear end. Of course, during the match, Hart went to give Austin a piledriver, and in a freak accident dropped Austin on his head and broke his neck. What this allowed for is for Austin to return and to tailor his in-ring style to involve much more promo time and significantly more brawling (in order to let the muscles around his neck heal without dealing with Austin taking too many bumps). Austin as a brawler is where Austin's popularity surged. Yes, Austin cutting promos was huge. However, Austin limiting his insistence on being a guy who had a motor and could take it to the limit bell-to-bell - and rather being a guy who could trade fists like anyone else in the crowd - significantly helped his appeal. In Austin's in-ring presentation evolving, he added yet another important tool in his arsenal that made him the ultra-believable babyface character that fans could believe in and wholeheartedly support.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
